Keg Insulating Apparatus

ABSTRACT

A keg insulating apparatus ( 200 ) is provided. The apparatus includes a sheet ( 202 ) of flexible insulating material configured to be wrapped around a body of a generally right cylindrical keg ( 100 ), a first circular disc ( 204 ) of flexible insulating material sized to fit against a top surface ( 110 ) of the keg and having an aperture ( 212 ) provided therein through which a dispensing tap of the keg extends, and a second circular disc ( 206 ) of flexible insulating material sized to fit against a bottom surface of the keg and to be held in place by means of a friction fit with a lower projecting rim ( 108 ) of the keg. The sheet of flexible insulating material further includes attachment formations ( 208 ) by means of which free ends of the sheet can be brought together and the tension between the free ends adjusted so as to tightly wrap the sheet against the keg.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an insulating apparatus, and more particularlyto an insulation apparatus used for providing thermal insulation tobeverages stored in kegs.

The term keg is to be understood to include any cask or barrel in theform of a generally right cylindrical container typically used for thestorage of beverages.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Kegs containing beverages are used on a daily basis around the world.Such kegs may be containers able to be pressurized to dispense thebeverage held therein.

To ensure that the beverage is cool at the point of consumption, thekegs must either be cooled in a fridge and then transported to the pointof consumption while being prevented from heating up, or must be cooledat the point of consumption.

Cooling of kegs or preventing them from heating up may be affected in avariety of ways, most common of which is by placing the keg into a tubof ice or a mixture of ice and water. Although quite effective, thisform of keeping the keg cool is usually quite messy and may beinconvenient to the consumer should he/she decide to move the keg to adifferent location.

Portable insulating devices have been developed to overcome the problemsassociated with ice or the mixture of ice and water. Such insulatingdevices may be made from flexible material which is wrapped about thebody of the keg and typically include pockets into which gel or icepacks can be inserted. Further forms of insulating devices includecylindrically shaped bodies having a permanently closed bottom end and azipper at the top end so as to enable the container to be completelysurrounded by the insulating device.

The drawbacks of existing insulating devices include that kegs filledwith a beverage have weights ranging from about 55 lbs. (25 kg) to about170 lbs. (77 kg), thereby requiring at least two people to lift the kegto insert it into the insulating device. Further, where the insulatingdevice is only wrapped about the body of the keg, the keg's bottom andtop surfaces are exposed, thus decreasing the efficiency of theinsulating device. Finally, where the insulating device requires ice orgel packs to be effective, the effectiveness of the insulating device isdependent on the time it takes for the ice or gel packs to melt or heatup.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention there is provided a keg insulatingapparatus comprising:

-   -   a sheet of flexible insulating material configured to be wrapped        around a body of a generally right cylindrical keg, the sheet        including attachment formations by means of which free ends of        the sheet can be brought together and the tension between the        free ends adjusted so as to tightly wrap the sheet against the        keg; and    -   a first circular disc of flexible insulating material sized to        fit against a top surface of the keg and having an aperture        provided therein through which a dispensing tap of the keg        extends.

Further features of the invention provide for the attachment formationsto include at least two adjustable fastening straps and to besufficiently adjustable so as to enable the insulating apparatus to bewrapped about kegs having differing dimensions.

Further features of the provide for the keg insulating apparatus toinclude a second circular disc of flexible insulating material sized tofit against a bottom surface of the keg and be held in place by means ofa friction fit with a lower projecting rim of the keg.

Further features of the invention provide for the flexible insulatingmaterial to be nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) foam and for the sheet,first and second discs of the insulating apparatus to have the samethickness.

Further features of the invention provide for the surfaces of theinsulating apparatus to be suitable for printing thereon, thereby toallow branding or advertising material to be printed onto the insulatingapparatus. The printing on the insulating apparatus may be done by anysuitable method of printing, preferably screen printing or digitalprinting.

The invention extends to a kit of parts for a keg insulating apparatuscomprising:

-   -   a sheet of flexible insulating material configured to be wrapped        around a body of a generally right cylindrical keg, the sheet        including attachment formations by means of which free ends of        the sheet can be brought together and the tension between the        free ends adjusted so as to tightly wrap the sheet against the        keg; and    -   a first circular disc of flexible insulating material sized to        fit against a top surface of the keg and having an aperture        provided therein through which a dispensing tap of the keg        extends.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional view of a typical type of keg;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a keg insulating apparatus according to theinvention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the keg insulating apparatus, where theapparatus is to be wrapped about a keg;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate two three-dimensional views of a keginsulating apparatus fastened to a keg; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a graph of the results obtained during an experimentto determine insulating capabilities.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical type of keg (100) used for the storage andtransportation of beverages such as beer. The keg (100) comprises agenerally right cylindrical container (102) having a top cavity (104)and a bottom cavity (106) formed by projecting rims (108). A top surface(110) of the keg (100) includes an opening (112) to which a dispensingtap (114) may be attached so as to allow for dispensing of the beveragestored within the keg (100).

FIG. 2 illustrates a first embodiment of a keg insulating apparatus(200) according to the invention. The insulating apparatus (200)comprises a rectangular sheet (202) a first circular disc (204) and asecond circular disc (206) all made from a flexible insulating material.In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the flexible insulatingmaterial is nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) foam and the sheet (202), thefirst and second secular discs (204, 206) of the insulating apparatus(200) have the same thickness. The sheet (202) is configured to bewrapped around the body of a keg and includes attachment formations(208) by means of which free ends (210) of the sheet (202) can bebrought together and the tension between the free ends (210) adjusted soas to tightly wrap the sheet (202) against the keg. The attachmentformations (208) comprise at least two adjustable fastening strapsspaced-apart on the edges of the sheet (202). In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 2, the sheet (202) includes three adjustablefastening straps which have clips and cooperating sockets provided attheir free ends. The fastening straps may be attached to the sheet (202)by any suitable method, preferably by gluing and stitching the fasteningstraps directly onto the sheet.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the keg insulatingapparatus comprises the rectangular sheet (202) and the first circulardisc (204) only.

The first circular disc (204) is sized to fit against a top surface ofthe keg and further includes an aperture (212) therein through which adispensing tap of the keg extends, as best illustrated in FIG. 4A. Thesecond circular disc (206) is sized to fit against a bottom surface ofthe keg and to be held in place by means of a friction fit within alower projecting rim of the keg as best illustrated in FIG. 4B.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded view of the first embodiment of theinsulating apparatus (200) wrapped around a keg (100). The sheet (202)of the insulating apparatus (200) is wrapped around the keg (100) andthe fastening straps (208) attached to the free ends (210) of the sheet(202) are engaged and optionally adjusted so as to wrap the sheet (202)tightly against the keg (100).

Once the sheet (202) has been tightly wrapped about the keg (100), thekeg is tilted to one side so as to enable insertion of the secondcircular disc (206) into a cavity (106) established by a lowerprojecting rim (108) of the keg (100). The second disc (206) is sized tofit into the cavity (106) and to be held in place by means of a frictionfit with the lower projecting rim (108) of the keg (100). Importantly,the apparatus of the invention does not require the keg to be lifted,but only tilted, for the second circular disc (206) to be inserted. Thisis an operation that can typically be conducted by one person.

After insertion of the second circular disc (204), the first circulardisc (204) is placed over the top surface (110) of the keg (100), withthe aperture (212) provided in the first disc (204) allowing for adispensing tap to extend therethrough.

It will be appreciated that in the embodiment comprising of the sheet(202) and the first circular disc (204) only, the procedure of tiltingthe keg (100) to one side will not be required.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate two three-dimensional views of a keg (400)having an insulating apparatus (402) according to the invention fastenedthereto. The surfaces (404) of the insulating apparatus (402) aresuitable for printing thereon, thereby allowing for branding oradvertising material to be printed onto the insulating apparatus (402).The printing on the surfaces of the insulating apparatus may be done byany suitable method of printing, preferably by screen printing ordigital printing.

It will be appreciated that the printing of brands or advertisingmaterial on the surfaces of the insulating apparatus enablesorganizations, brands, or even sports teams to supply the insulatingapparatus with their respective logos, designs and graphics printedthereon and to thereby market their product or service.

It will further be appreciated that the insulating apparatus may be madefor any size keg ranging from 55 lbs. (25 kg) kegs to 170 lbs. (77 kg)kegs. In a preferred embodiment of the insulating apparatus, the sheethas a width of 51.77 inches (131.5 cm) and a height of 22.83 inches (58cm), the first circular disc has a diameter of 14.96 inches (38 cm), thesecond circular disc has a diameter of 15.55 inches (39.5 cm) and a holethrough its center of 2.87 inches (7.3 cm) diameter, and the thicknessof all three parts is 0.78 inches (2 cm).

Experiment

A material's resistance to heat transfer is governed by the followingequation:

R=Δx/k

where R is the thermal resistivity;

-   -   Δx is the distance between two points within the material        through which the heat transfer is taking place; and    -   k is the thermal conductivity of the material

The thermal conductivity constants for the nitrile butadiene rubber(NBR) foam and neoprene are the following:

-   -   k_(NBR Foam)=0.038 W/MK    -   k_(Neoprene)=0.054 W/MK

Taking these constants, it can be determined that over the same distanceΔx, the NBR foam exhibits a 42% higher resistance to heat transfer thanneoprene.

The insulating capabilities of the present invention were compared in anexperiment with the insulating capabilities of another standard size andmake keg insulating apparatus made from neoprene as well as anon-insulated keg as a control.

The experiment took place in a temperature controlled environment at anaverage temperature of 91° F. (32.8° C.) over a period of 8 hours. Thetemperature of the beer held in the kegs was measured at 30 minuteintervals over the 8 hour period by using two different digitalthermometers. Prior to each temperature measurement, beer was drainedfrom the taps for approximately 3 seconds so as to remove any beerretained within the taps and the respective tap tubes. The initialtemperature of the beer held in all three kegs was approximately 37.5°F. (3° C.).

FIG. 5 illustrates a graph that was plotted from the experiment results.The graph clearly illustrates the higher insulating capabilities of thepresent invention (labeled “X-Treme Keg Wear”) as opposed to a keginsulating apparatus made from neoprene. The average temperatureincrease of the beer held in the keg insulated by the present inventionwas approximately 4.9° F. (2.7° C.) over an 8 hour period at an outsidetemperature of 91° F. (32.8° C.). The neoprene insulating apparatus onthe other hand has an average temperature increase of approximately 8.9°F. (4.9° C.) over the same period.

A further aspect illustrated by the graph is that some brands of beermay start to froth when being dispensed once the beer in the keg reachesan average temperature of approximately 42.5° F. (5.8° C.). The graphillustrates that due to the present invention having a higher insulatingcapability, the brands of beer which are likely to froth atapproximately 42.5° F. (5.8° C.), will commence frothing 3 hours afterthe same beer being held within a keg insulated by a neoprene insulatingapparatus.

While the invention has been described with reference to a specificembodiment, it will be appreciated that numerous changes may be madewhich fall within the scope of the invention. For example, manydifferent kinds of attachment formations can be used to hold the freeends of the flexible sheet together, and the material, construction andarrangement of the keg insulation apparatus may be modified as may beappropriate. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention belimited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims thatissue on an application based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of theembodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but notlimiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in thefollowing claims.

1. A keg insulating apparatus comprising: a sheet of flexible insulatingmaterial configured to be wrapped around a body of a generally rightcylindrical keg, the sheet including attachment formations by means ofwhich free ends of the sheet can be brought together and the tensionbetween the free ends adjusted so as to tightly wrap the sheet againstthe keg; and a first circular disc of flexible insulating material sizedto fit against a top surface of the keg and having an aperture providedtherein through which a dispensing tap of the keg extends.
 2. A keginsulating apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the attachmentformations include at least two adjustable fastening straps.
 3. A keginsulating apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the adjustablefastening straps are sufficiently adjustable so as to enable theinsulating apparatus to be wrapped about kegs having differingdimensions.
 4. A keg insulating apparatus as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe keg insulating apparatus includes a second circular disc of flexibleinsulating material sized to fit against a bottom surface of the keg andbe held in place by means of a friction fit with a lower projecting rimof the keg.
 5. A keg insulating apparatus as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe flexible insulating material is nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) foam.6. A keg insulating apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sheet,first and second discs of the insulating apparatus have the samethickness.
 7. A keg insulating apparatus as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe surfaces of the insulating apparatus are suitable for printingthereon to allow branding or advertising material to be printed onto theinsulating apparatus.
 8. A keg insulating apparatus as claimed in claim7, wherein the printing on the insulating apparatus is done by screenprinting or digital printing.
 9. A kit of parts for a keg insulatingapparatus comprising: a sheet of flexible insulating material configuredto be wrapped around a body of a generally right cylindrical keg, thesheet including attachment formations by means of which free ends of thesheet can be brought together and the tension between the free endsadjusted so as to tightly wrap the sheet against the keg; and a firstcircular disc of flexible insulating material sized to fit against a topsurface of the keg and having an aperture provided therein through whicha dispensing tap of the keg extends.
 10. A kit of parts for a keginsulating apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the attachmentformations include at least two adjustable fastening straps.
 11. A kitof parts for a keg insulating apparatus as claimed in claim 10, whereinthe adjustable fastening straps are sufficiently adjustable so as toenable the insulating apparatus to be wrapped about kegs havingdiffering dimensions.
 12. A kit of parts for a keg insulating apparatusas claimed in claim 9, including a second circular disc of flexibleinsulating material sized to fit against a bottom surface of the keg andbe held in place by means of a friction fit with a lower projecting rimof the keg.
 13. A kit of parts for a keg insulating apparatus as claimedin claim 9, wherein the flexible insulating material is nitrilebutadiene rubber (NBR) foam.
 14. A kit of parts for a keg insulatingapparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the sheet, first and seconddiscs of the insulating apparatus have the same thickness.
 15. A kit ofparts for a keg insulating apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein thesurfaces of the insulating apparatus are suitable for printing thereonto allow branding or advertising material to be printed onto theinsulating apparatus.
 16. A kit of parts for a keg insulating apparatusas claimed in claim 15, wherein the printing on the insulating apparatusis done by screen printing or digital printing.